2011 Italian GP stats and facts

Sebastian Vettel can win the championship with five races to spare at Singapore.

He matched Kimi Raikkonen’s tally of wins in Italy while Red Bull drew level with Tyrrell.

Read on for more stats and facts from the Italian Grand Prix.

Vettel on course for the title

Vettel’s 18th victory puts him tied for 13th on the list of all-time winners with Kimi Raikkonen.

This was the 23rd win for Red Bull, who have now won as many races as Tyrrell, and are tied for eighth on the list of all-time winners. It was their first victory in the Italian Grand Prix, and the first for a Renault-engined car since Johnny Herbert’s with Benetton in 1995.

Vettel set the 25th pole position of his career meaning he has been on pole position for exactly one-third of the races he has started. He is now eighth on the list of drivers with the most pole positions.

This was Vettel’s tenth pole position of the season. With six races to go he is closing in on Nigel Mansell’s record of 14 in one year, from 1992.

He can win the world championship in Singapore if he leaves with a lead greater than 125 points. He’s currently 112 ahead, so he needs at least a podium finish to achieve it, with his various rivals finishing well behind him.

If he does that, and wins the title with five races to spare, it will be one of the earliest championship conclusions ever. The earliest championship victories in terms of the number of races remaining are:

Driver

Races left

2002

Michael Schumacher

6

1992

Nigel Mansell

5

2001

Michael Schumacher

4

2004

Michael Schumacher

4

This is particularly impressive given that the relative value of winning in points terms fell when a new points system was introduced in 2003. However, applying the last two championship points systems to this year’s results yields a similar situation each time.

Red Bull, however, will have to wait until at least Suzuka to get their hands on the constructors’ championship trophy.

Vettel has now led 521 laps this year from a total of 778 (66.97%). That means he’s already in the top ten for most laps led in a season.

If he continues at this rate he will beat the record for most laps led in a season, which stands at 694 and was set by Mansell in 1992. The highest proportion of laps led in a season is 71.47%, set by Jim Clark in 1963.

Five champions in the top five

Mark Webber posted Red Bull’s first retirement of the year. That leaves Vettel as the only driver to have completed every race this year, and every racing lap to boot.

Jaime Alguersuari achieved his best finish in an F1 race with seventh place. He is the fifth driver to finish in the points from 18th on the grid this year.

In his second race for Renault, Bruno Senna scored the first points of his F1 career with ninth place.

Vitantonio Liuzzi started his 75th Grand Prix, as did Vettel. One did rather better than the other…

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap, the 11th of his career, putting him level with Mark Webber.

The Italian Grand Prix had the fewest pit stops of a race so far this year: 35. Prior to that the lowest was 44 at Melbourne. The highest was 85 in Hungary.

Finally, the top five finishers in the race were all previous world champions. If anyone can provide any examples of that happening in the past, or any occasions where there have been more world champions in the top finishing positions, please share them in the comments.

The singapoooor track sucks in that it almost guarantees the pole sitter a win unless something stupid happens in the pits or a back marker takes him out…. The Turk track was one of the best in that it afforded many areas to pass. R & R

I don’t know if it has been mentioned here, but there was an interesting statistic given during the race: Jenson Button has had 49 compeititve overtakes this season, more than anyone else. With passes on Hamilton, Schumacher and Alonso, that’s now 52 competitive overtakes. Since Monza was the thirteenth race of the season, that means Button is averaging four overtakes per race.

This is the first time we have 5 champions in the final top 5 of a race in formula 1. Statsf1.com says we had 22 races with 5 champions at the start and after verification, it’s the very first time we have 5 champions in the top 5 of a race.